


Pizza with Problems

by beyonceismysafeword



Category: Iron Fist (TV), Jessica Jones (TV), Luke Cage (TV), The Defenders (Marvel TV)
Genre: Gen, Generally complies with MCU canon pre-JJ Season 2, Mentions of Kilgrave, Not graphically discussed, Past Rape/Non-con
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 01:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13893633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beyonceismysafeword/pseuds/beyonceismysafeword
Summary: Luke invites Danny over for a casual, hang-out sesh with pizza. That and discussing the events towards the aftermath of the end of Jessica Jones Season 1. Major Spoilers for Jessica Jones Season 1, minor spoilers for Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and The Defenders. May conflict with something mentioned in Jessica Jones Season 2, hopefully doesn't.





	Pizza with Problems

**Author's Note:**

> Author's Note: I've been reading a ton of comics Heroes for Hire, so characterizations may be slightly comic-y in some parts.

Since the events at Midland Circle, Luke and Danny had seen each other on and off. Claire was more motivated than ever in her self-defense classes. Luke would tag along occasionally and watch her practice with Colleen. Danny was usually there and they would talk about this or that. Danny even managed to talk Luke into trying a few stances and gave feedback on his footwork. Kung fu didn’t come naturally to the big man, however, and it was hard to see a reason to learn when he could just walk through most of his opponents. Luke never wanted to spar with Colleen, for his own reasons.

Still, Danny had only been to Luke’s apartment once or twice so it was a special occasion when he invited him over. It should have been a bigger deal to have a famous billionaire stroll through the streets of Harlem, but Danny still had a knack for unintentionally dressing more like a homeless person than one of Forbes Magazine’s 30 Under 30.

“Sorry I’m late,” Danny said, not very sorry. Luke let him into the apartment. “The guy in the barbershop kicked me out three times before I got up here. He did give me $5, though. I feel sort of bad. Should I go give it back?”

“That’s Bobby,” Luke said. “Just put it into his tip jar on your way out. I’ll tell him later.”

Danny took off his slightly worn denim jacket and hung it up on the small rack nailed next to the door. The sweatshirt he had underneath was somehow even more worn. Luke contemplated taking him shopping, but there was probably some convoluted reason he had for preferring holes in his clothes.

“Is Claire here?”

“Nah, she’s at work,” Luke said.

“Uh-huh,” Danny cocked his head to the side. “So what’s this about?”

Luke felt his throat tighten up. “Nothing. I got pizza.”

He gestured to the large box sitting on the table. “Cool,” Danny said, his tone suddenly casual again. He went over and flipped it open. “Paper plates or regular?”

“What?”

“Do you want me to use regular plates or do you have paper ones?”

“Oh,” Luke felt his chest relax. “Paper’s over on the counter.”

Danny grabbed the stack of plates and brought them over, setting out a plate for Luke before picking out a slice of pepperoni for himself. He took an overly large bite and chewed thoughtfully for a minute. “So what’s this about?” he said, his mouth still full.

Luke rolled his eyes. “Who says it’s about anything? I can’t buy pizza for a friend?”

“Well, first, you deliberately chose a time when your girlfriend was at work which means she either doesn’t approve of something or doesn’t know about it. Second, you texted me five times today asking where I was. I was fifteen minutes later.”

Luke started to object. “Third,” Danny continued. “You’re actually really loud when you walk and I could hear you pacing back and forth from the first floor. I think Bobby knows something’s up too.”

Luke sighed. “You thinking of getting into business with Jessica?”

Danny laughed. “No. I love helping people, but she’d definitely kill me if were worked together for more than a day without a buffer person. Wait, is that what this’s about? Crime fighting?” Danny leaned in excitedly at that last part, like a lab who had just been shown a particularly juicy tennis ball. If he’d had a tail, he would’ve wagged it.

“No… we’re not- we don’t ‘fight crime’, OK? Wait- I guess we kind of do. Oh god, we fight crime. We’re crime fighters. Sweet Christmas.”

Danny smiled and waited. When Luke didn’t add anything, he asked in mild exasperation “So what’s the case?”

“It’s not… exactly a case.” Luke went and got his laptop. He set it on the table and began pulling up a video. It took a while- Luke had to be careful with typing. Since he’d gotten his powers, he’d wrecked four keyboards before he learned the exact pressured required to actually register a key stroke while at the same time not crushing it into unrecognizable scrap metal. Luke wondered how Jessica dealt with it or whether she’d been spared this particular flavor of bullshit.

Finally, the video began to play.  It was footage from a dockyard security camera that someone had uploaded to YTube. A black-haired, leather jacket-clad woman, small but recognizable in her features and attire, stood in the center of the camera—Jessica Jones. A half dozen ghostly figures stood unnaturally still on the bottom of the screen. Slowly, a man approached Jesscia. He was tall and well-dressed, middle-aged but handsome. He got close to her and they spoke for a moment. Then his head jerked to the side unnaturally. He fell to the ground in a heap. She had snapped his neck.

Danny flinched and went pale. From what he had told Luke, the monks of K’un-Lun didn’t disapprove of killing. Heck, it sounded like they condoned it a hell of a lot. But Danny didn’t seem comfortable with killing. Luke liked that about him. Maybe it was the preacher’s son in him or the really-doesn’t-want-go-back-to-prison, but Luke didn’t like murder any better. “Jessica did that?” Danny asked, his voice soft and hoarse. He ran a hand through his curly hair.

“I figured you missed all the news about that. But he deserved it. God, he deserved it. He’s the one you have to look out for.”

Luke pointed at the screen. The video briefly jumped to a close up of Jessica and the wide-eyed dead man. He paused it and let the image linger.

“Who is he?”

“Kilgrave. Name’s Kilgrave. He controls… controlled people’s minds.”

Normally, it took a while for people to accept that part. But the Immortal Iron Fist, Protector of K’un-Lun, Sworn Enemy to the Hand simply nodded and asked “How?”

“Pheromones I think? Or a virus, I don’t remember if Jess ever explained it to me straight. But anything he said, you had to do. Even if it was horrible, dangerous, illegal. Even if it got you or someone else killed. If someone stopped you, you’d scream and fight them. Only way to stop the command was time and distance.”

“But he’s dead right?”

“I thought so too. But Elektra came back, didn’t she? And the guy Claire and Misty and Colleen fought.”

“Bakuto.”

“Yeah, sure. If they came back, couldn’t he?”

“They were members of the Hand. I’m sure they would have loved to just tell people what to do, but I think I would have heard about him when I was hunting them.”

“He was dead by then.”

“Did this guy really seem like a team player? The Hand were kind of… insular.”

“No,” Luke conceded. He paused and looked toward the screen again. “Still, there’s nothing saying he couldn’t come back some other way.” He tapped the image urgently. “You need to look at him, Danny. You have to memorize his face because if you ever hear that lame-ass British accent of his it’ll be too late.”

Danny bit his lip and considered the violent picture. “OK.”

“I already showed this to Bobby and the folks around Harlem that I knew.” Bobby had taken a healthy ten minutes of convincing about the mind control thing, by the way. The others had looked at him like he was crazy, but he was still a local hero. Hopefully some had payed attention. “He could make them hurt themselves or someone else, but _Danny_. With your power _and_ your money? He could put New York in a world of trouble and he wasn’t exactly _gentle_ with people when he was done with them.”

Danny nodded. “What did he make you do?” He asked it very softly, but the question felt like a stab to the gut.

The words felt stuck in Luke’s throat. He looked around the room. Every instinct he had screamed to change the topic. His eyes landed on the pizza box. During this conversation, Danny had somehow managed to consume four slices of pepperoni and was now working on his fifth (which was, coincidentally, the last slice of pepperoni). Luke had ordered a half-plain, half-pepperoni pie since he wasn’t exactly sure what Danny could eat. The plain half sat completely neglected. Luke hadn’t had anything yet—his stomach had felt tight and queasy since he’d woken up. He’d skipped breakfast too.

“You know,” Luke said, changing the topic at last. “I don’t even know what your favorite kind of pizza is.”

Danny drummed his fingers and shifted uneasily in his chair. “It’s actually Hawaiian.”

“I’m sorry I asked.”

“What’s yours?”

“Pepperoni.”

Danny looked down at the decimated pepperoni half of the pizza and at the slice currently in his hand. He chewed the bite he’d just taken guiltily and swallowed. “Sorry.”

“I thought you might be a vegetarian or something? Aren’t you Buddhist?”

“Kind of? I mean, K’un-Lun has their own gods, but Siddhartha also visited K’un-Lun during his travels…”

“So it’s complicated?” Nothing Danny had said made sense.

“And I can eat meat, yes. I love meat.”

Luke laughed. “I shoulda figured after the way you wolfed down those pork egg rolls. And you’re _definitely_ not a pacifist.”

They both laughed at that until Luke got quiet. When he did speak, his voice was quiet and a little hoarse.

“You know, my daddy taught me to never hit a woman.”

Danny looked at him intently.

“Kilgrave… he—I wanted to confront him, y’know? Because he—well, not him, but… He had a thing for Jessica. Not just a thing. He- when she was starting out, trying to be an Avenger or something, he was the first thing she met. He dug her and when he dug someone he didn’t exactly buy her flowers. He told her to do things—made her do things with those crazy powers of his. Dressed her up, made her hurt people. He… raped her.”

Danny’s eyes were wide as saucers by this point. He reached forward to touch Luke’s arm, but Luke stopped him.

“That’s not just it. He made her… she killed my wife. Reva. She had something he wanted so he just got rid of her. Like trash.” Luke exhaled. He felt like a growth had been cut out of his chest. He could breathe easier now and his chest felt lighter, but also raw and exposed. Remembering Reva still filled him with a helpless rage. He let it crackle electric through the air until it eventually dissipated. Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story.

“I tried to confront him on my own. It was stupid, but somehow I thought that if I could take a bullet or a knife I could take him. But I couldn’t. Bastard wasn’t afraid of me at all. He was more upset that I’d slept with Jessica than anything else. He asked what made me so special and I just told him about my powers. Then, he told me I needed to lie to her. Told me to blow up my bar with me inside and then when she saved me I was supposed to act like I wasn’t being controlled anymore and work with her. He had me report in. And of course that reset it every time. And I did it. I did all of that. Followed her around like a dog or something.”

“But that wasn’t the worst part. We found him in some theater. She still didn’t know I was under his control. Until he makes his appearance and gloats like the British prick that he is. Then he tells me to kill her. And I… I just start attacking her. She was trying not to hurt me and I kept coming after her like some monster in a horror movie. That’s why she shot me in the head. It was the only way to stop me.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, the worst part is that at the time I did. Or put of me did. The part that counted. Kilgrave doesn’t just control your body. I _wanted_ to do those things. And it’s not like you’re not yourself. I was me, but the minute he said anything I needed to do it. He told me I hated Jessica, I hated her. Hell, I already did kind of hate her. She killed Reva. She lied to me about killing Reva and she… she killed her. I remember everything so clearly. It’s surreal. I know I tried to stop myself, but I was too weak. I haven’t felt that weak in a long time. Even in prison… I – they took a lot of things from me. They took everything but my mind. Kilgrave took that and he did it without batting an eye.”

“Well, for the record, I don’t think you’re weak.” Danny was looking at him with a soft smile. His eyebrows were furrowed and he looked tired. Hell, Luke _felt_ tired so that was understandable. It felt good to have somebody listen, for someone to know the whole story and not run away in terror and disgust. But still, sympathy stung. Made him feel small and pitiful, something more like a victim than he could ever picture himself.

“No, I mean you’re really strong,” Danny said. “I’ve seen you bust down a door like it was made of balsa wood. It was awesome.”

Luke laughed. Danny continued. “No seriously! You took on like ten ninjas with weapons and they couldn’t do anything.”

“You know,” Luke said nostalgically. “I once ripped off a car door and took down an entire armory of guys with it.”

Danny’s eyes lit up. “I hadn’t heard about the car door! That’s so cool.”

Luke smiled and looked down at what remained of the pizza. “I guess I should try some of the _cheese_ pizza. Mario don’t disappoint.”

Luke bit into a slice and then made a face. “It’s cold.”

“I like cold pizza in the morning,” Danny said with a shrug.

“Yeah, but this ain’t really cold. It’s just… lukewarm.”

Danny laughed.

“It wasn’t supposed to be a pun!” Luke rolled his eyes in exasperation and began to put the pizza away.  “I’ll eat it tomorrow. Do you want any?”

“Nah, I ate before I came over.” Luke choked a little. Danny grabbed his jacket, but stopped before he put it on.

“Listen, Colleen’s expecting me, but thanks for warning me. If there’s anything else you need to… warn me about, give me a call, OK?”

“Yeah, man, I will. Thanks for coming.” He paused for a moment and then pulled Danny into a hug.

“Alright, see you later man.” Danny turned to leave. Luke caught him by the shoulder.

“Don’t tell Jessica I told you all this, OK? Ever.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you told Danny about Kilgrave,” Jessica said, loud enough that Luke had to check whether the call was on speakerphone. He panicked. He could run away, change his name. He’d swapped his initials around before – swap ‘em back? Chester Lincoln? Clinton Louis? Carl Lucas? (Damn, that was his original name!)

 “He told you that?” Luke asked weakly.

“He didn’t have to tell me! I passed him when I went to visit Hogarth and I could _see it_ in his face when he looked at me. I can’t believe you told him. Did you think that you two had to take care of me? Because I’m some ‘helpless little girl’ who needs to be pitied and protected from the big bad dead man? Well, you know what? I’m the reason he’s dead. You don’t have to worry about him anymore and you definitely don’t have to worry about  me.”

“I’m not worried about you.” It was kind of a lie, but it fit the circumstances. “I was worried about… if he came back. I wanted to warn Danny. I kept thinking that he wouldn’t recognize him.”

“Oh.” Jessica sounded floored. After almost a minute of silence, she said “Luke, why on earth do you think he could come back? People don’t just heal from a broken neck.”

“Elektra came back. Bakuto came back. People come back now.”

“Yeah, but not everyone. He wouldn’t… there could always be some bullshit where he can come back and hurt people. That’s just the way things are now.”

Jessica went silent and Luke was pretty sure he heard the sound of her drinking something. He wondered how drunk she was. “You’re probably right,” she said roughly. “I mean, people coming back from the dead, big green guys fucking up African cities, me lifting a car? Anything’s fucking plausible at this point. Moon landing’s fake? Santa Claus is real?”

“At this point, I’ll believe anything.” Jessica laughed. Luke continued. “Heck, Danny’s probably the sanest one of us.”

Jessica groaned. “That’s so sad.” He chuckled. “No, no,” she slurred (definitely drunk). “You’re probably right. I guess he wasn’t in the city when there was all that news about Kilgrave?”

“Nah, he was in Shangri-La.”

“I guess I wouldn’t want to go up against that Iron Hand of his.”

“Iron _Fist_.”

“I don’t care. Anyway, that thing looks like it would hurt.”

“Hey, I got hit by it before.”  
                “Oh yeah. How was it?”

“It hurt.”

Jessica laughed.

“I kept having this dream where I see Danny far off in a crowd and he waves to me. I can see Kilgrave walking towards him. I try to yell, but I’m too far away—he can’t hear me. And then Kilgrave taps him on the shoulder and you know Danny, he’s friendly, so he turns around and- and I keep having that dream.”

Jessica sniffed. “Luke,” she said quietly. “I think you and I are similar people. We… protect people. That’s who we are. The first thing I thought about after I broke free of Kilgrave’s control was Trish. I stalked her for like three days before I could show my face to her. I was so ashamed. She actually called the cops because she could tell someone broke into her apartment. But I couldn’t stop worrying about him finding her. I think we take care of other people before ourselves. It’s easier.”

“I know… I’m sorry, Jess. For everything I’ve done.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

“I still feel like it. I want to say I wasn’t being myself, but at the time I was.” Luke really didn’t want to cry.

“I know, Luke. I know more than anyone.”

Luke made as much of a sound of agreement as he could muster at the moment. He was pretty sure he was crying now, but he could live with it.

“Hey,” she said softly. “You don’t hate me, right?”

“No,” he said. “I don’t hate you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Something that bothered me in Luke Cage and The Defenders is that Luke never really gets to address what happened to him at the end of JJ in a non-joking way, even though being controlled by Kilgrave was shown to be extremely traumatizing for everyone that survived itand I can't see Luke being OK with doing the things he was forced to do. He doesn't seem the kind of person to just come out and discuss it freely, so what better way than with some Heroes for Hire bro-love.


End file.
